Is Ubuntu 19.04 able to support Intel Core i9-9980XE Extreme Edition or AMD Ryzen 9 3950X?

[Bret Busby]

On 19/07/2019, Ralf Mardorf via ubuntu-users
<ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> since it's Friday [1], did you notice the power consumption of those
> CPUs?
>
> On Thu, 2019-07-18 at 16:39 +0000, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming wrote:
>> Intel Core i9-9980XE
>
> TDP 165 W
>
>> AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
>
> TDP 105 W
>
> OTOH depending on the tasks you are doing a CPU with less power
> consumption, that takes way longer to do the same, could have a less
> good energy efficiency. Even if such a CPU would make sense for
> something I might need to do, I couldn't pay my German power bill
> anymore. Fortunately it wouldn't make sense for what I'm doing with my
> computers.
>
> This is the output of an Ubuntu 16.04 x86_64 kernel:
>
> $ grep NR_CPUS config-4.4.0-154-lowlatency
> CONFIG_NR_CPUS=512
>
> IOW by default x86_64 Ubuntu kernels are obviously limited to 512 cores.
>
> Depending on what you try to achieve, you might need to assign processes
> to cores by command line, the automated assignment not necessarily knows
> what you try to achieve.
>
> If I would guess, that I could benefit from such an amount of CPUs, I
> would ask the subscribers of this or a more specialized list regarding
> experiences with those and/or similar machines for a specific purpose.
>
> Using such CPUs doesn't make sense for a lot of tasks. Those CPUs are
> most likely very useful for some tasks, but after you installed Ubuntu
> to a machine with such a CPU, you most likely have to do a lot of work
> yourself. I seriously doubt that the automated assignment of CPUs to
> processes does the right thing for a specific purpose.
>
> Btw. you need to ensure that the firmware of the motherboards that could
> use all cores of such new CPUs, does work flawlessly with Linux.
>
> Regards,
> Ralf
>
> [1] https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/
>
>
>

>From what I have seen of the promotional material for the i9 systems,
they are primarily designed and promoted (at this time), for the same
purpose as the once most powerful computer to be found in a household
- the Nintendo 64, for gaming.

>From what I understand, gaming people are more concerned with gaming,
than the cost of the resources (including, in this case,
electrickery). My local (real) computer shop even sells special racing
gaming office chairs, for hundreds of AUD,for gamers, with special
padding and safety harnesses, so they don't fall out.

Given that i9 systems can, I believe, run up to 192GB of RAM, and, the
costs of the i9 systems, I think costs are not so important for people
with i9 systems.

But, with all of that, I expect that Ubuntu Linux would likely be the
OS most likely to make best use if the i9 capabilities. I remember,
many years ago, when it was still a relatively new CPU on the market,
a hardware lecturer telling the class that UNIX was the only OS
capable of making full use of the capabilities of the 80486 CPU, and,
with my elsewhere stated experience of Ubuntu Linux and the Haswell
architecture and the nVIDIA Optimus thingy, I expect that Ubuntu Linux
would likely be the best OS for handling cutting edge new CPU
architecture.

Of course, I could be wrong...

I suggest, as has been the advice over the years - get a LiveCD Ubuntu
iso DVD, (or, USB drive, if the computer is not sufficiently advanced,
to have a DVD drive), stick it in the drive of such a system, boot it
up, and, see how it goes, and, what of the hardware, it detects.

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
 Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
 "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
 A Trilogy In Four Parts",
 written by Douglas Adams,
 published by Pan Books, 1992

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